by one. Miraculously, most weren’t hurt. Just a lot of crying and a few minor scrapes.
Then the bus’s engine exploded.
It’d felt like Manhattan had stopped spinning. So many people had gotten out of their cars to help, but when the flames rose up, everyone froze in place. Everyone except Theo. He was trained for that. He kicked out the windows and started grabbing more kids, lifting them to safety.
“No other comment, fireman?” The reporter’s cameraman snapped Theo out of the harsh reality the last hour of his life had become.
As a newly minted firefighter, he hadn’t seen any dangerous action the job had to offer. Unless a grease fire in his fire station’s kitchen counted when Luis burnt a pound of bacon.
“What do you want me to comment about?” Theo asked the cameraman, keeping his annoyance in check. He represented the New York Fire Department. “You need to talk to the chief, I’m not even with that company. I—”
“What house are you with?” a voice asked.
He couldn’t tell who, they all melted together thanks to his stinging eyes. “Is that important?”
“Did you say something about a girlfriend?” a different voice prodded him.
Uh oh. “Again, why is that important?” He lifted his shirt to wipe the remaining grime from his eyes so he could see what he was dealing with.
When female gasps registered, Theo stared at them, staring back at him, and felt the city closing around him.
“You’re a hero,” a softer voice slipped out of the huddled mass of people intruding on his life.
Oh boy. He may be a rookie fireman, but he knew what being branded a hero meant.
“Mr. Markham!” Tom, Luke and Lexi’s limo driver, jogged up to him. “It took a lot of name-dropping to get past the police barriers, sir. Are you all right?”
“Sir?” one of the reporters asked, her eyes narrowed at him.
Theo fell back a step and let Tom pull him away. A piece of his normal life crept back into him, allowing him to start the decompression process from an intense rescue scene.
“Sir, are you all right?” Tom asked him again. “Your sister saw you on the news. She called me. She’s worried sick, especially after what happened to your dad.”
“Yeah, Tom, I’m fine. Thanks.” Theo’s throat tightened.
His father, Theo Markham Sr, a fire lieutenant had been killed on 9/11. Theo Jr. was only four at that time and didn’t remember much about the man whose name he proudly carried. All Theo had left of his dad were a few pictures and stories. He couldn’t even be sure if the images in his head were real.
Theo had signed up to be a fireman because his mother had said it’s what his dad would have wanted.
Undaunted by the sweat and grime covering Theo, Tom steered him toward the limo. Tom answered his buzzing cell. “Yes, Mr. Hart. I have Theo right here. Yes, he’s safe. Please tell Mrs. Hart.”
“It’s Theo?” a voice chirped from behind him.
He glanced over his shoulder and cringed. The herd of reporters had followed them.
“Theo... Theo... Theo Markham?”
Shuddering, Theo turned around. “How do you know that? What do you people want?”
“There aren’t many Theos in the fire department.” A reporter held up her phone and yup, there was his graduation picture.
Freaking Google.
“Look, I already told you. I don’t make statements. Especially since it’s not my ladder company in charge of the scene.”
“What company are you with, officer?” the only professional sounding voice asked him.
He didn’t bother to correct the person since he wasn’t an officer. Exhaling, he watched the reporters tapping away on their phones. They were going to figure it out.
“Ladder 12, downtown,” one of them proudly announced to the others.
“How tall are you?” another reporter asked, her eyes fixed on his thighs. “Six-one?”
“Six-three,” he admitted, hoping they’d go away if he gave them something even though that tidbit certainly wasn’t important.
The way the other female reporters looked at him, their eyes crawling up his tall frame and mesmerized by his green eyes made him feel like a piece of meat. Sure, he liked to hook up, but at twenty-six, relationships weren’t for him right now. With his pittance of a salary, he couldn’t treat a woman the way he wanted now anyway. Theo was a traditional guy. Wanted to be the one to take care of his woman.
“Wait, your sister is Alexis Markham Hart. Married to Luke Hart, CEO of The Sterling, right?”
Oh nuts.
Theo felt his stomach cramp. He’d never been so anxious to get to The Sterling,